I'm glad you guys are liking this story. It's really giving me a morale boost. So... thanks guys and gals. I'm... touched.
Well, here goes nothing...
"They're here, with us," Mike said.
"...Damn..." Was all Kris had to say.
The four MechWarriors looked glum. They had arrived back at Misato's appartment, and were currently sitting around the kitchen table contemplating this recent development. Asuka had gone to bed, though if one listened, one could hear slight sobs. Shinji was just sitting sullenly. Misato was listening with grim intent to the boys as they began discussing plans.
"If the Jags are here, we'll have to fight a Guerilla war against them. We couldn't win any other way," Sean said.
"Hell no! We've got a city! A bastion we can hold! I say we lure the bastards in and crush 'em!" John exclaimed.
"Misato," Mike said as his lance argued. "Do you have a map of Tokyo-3?"
"You don't need it. The city can defend itself. That's what it was designed for. Now how about you boys get yourselves a drink?" She said as she walked out to see to Asuka.
"Drink, right..." Mike mused as he opened one refrigerater. "Empty," he muttered as he pulled open the next. "Beer, weak but it should suffice," he said as he grabbed one for each of his friends. Right as he pulled open the tab and took his first sip, there came a scream. "CAPTAIN RUTZ! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"
"Getting a drink, why?"
Misato stalked angrily over to the boy. "You are way to young to be drinking, young man!"
"Not really. Where I come from, drinking is nothing special. Alcohol is just another drink. Why, afraid I can out-drink you?"
"Not on your life..." Misato growled.
"Prolly not. Sean is the big drinker 'round these parts. Challange him,"
"I'll whip his lilly Ass"
For young Shinji Ikari, it seemed as though the world were a completely cruel and unforgiving place. Shortly after the trip deep into NERV HQ, a sergeant had pulled Misato aside and told her Rei had survived. Shinji was ecstatic at the thought. Until he saw what had survived. "Damn you father," he whispered as Wagner trickled into his ears. "You killed her... and... r-r-replaced her with a fake"
As night fell, Rei Ayanami stumbled through Tokyo-3 and into the appartment complex suburbs. Her gut was in even more pain by now, and her vision was beginning to weaken. She dragged herself into the elevator of the apartment building, and hastily punched the button for Shinji's floor. As she reached the door, she knocked heavily. Please do not let Sohryu answer... she thought feverently.
Her wishes were not to be respected.
"What do you want, damn doll?" were the first words out of Asuka Langly Sohryu's mouth as she opened the door.
"I am not a doll," Rei stated.
Asuka replied in two ways. The first was a very hard slap across the cheek. The second was a dull, monotone "Yes, you are,"
Rei crouched, holding her cheek, tears gently falling down her cheeks. "I-I-I'm...no...doll..." she whispered. "N-n-not...anymore..."
Ordinarily, Auska Langly Sohryu would have felt happy at a victory over her enemy. But, ever since the 15th, something inside her had changed alittle. Now, she saw the new Rei Ayanami. A human being, and not a doll. "Rei," she said.
Rei looked up as Asuka held out her hand.
"I'm sorry. Please... come in"
3 hours earlier, the drinking contest had ended. Sean and Misato had passed out at the same time, while Kris and John had fallen asleep about an hour before. Lanceleader-Captain Michael Johann Rutz had wisely not drunk himself to sleep, but had left for the living room area. He had made himself a small cot on a couch, and, like a true soldier, had gone to sleep promptly. As Asuka showed Rei into this room, Rei wondered who this mysterious boy was.
"Rei, you can sleep in here. I'll tell Misato in the morning," with that, Asuka departed.
Rei's gut suddenly lurched with a massive pain. Her vision swam, and she stumbled to her knees. 'N-No!' she thought, before a new wave of pain assailed her. Her vision dimmed, she fell on her stomach, and darkness claimed her.
Meanwhile, Michael was also in darkness' company. His was a memory,a dark spectre that would haunt him until the day he died. A memory of combat, a memory of blood, death, and pain. A memory of massacre. "Lead, Lead! Run! They've go-NO!"
Mike shuddered in his sleep. "YOU BASTARDS!" he screamed aloud. Lasers flashed, bullets pinged, PPCs sang, and death stalked the battlefield.
"STREBEN SIE! STREBEN SIE! FÜR ICH WÜRDE NICHT!" he screamed.
Then his Mech tripped, and with that, his spectre defeated him once more.
Rei Ayanami awoke to the scream of "NIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" from the boy on the couch. He bolted upright, eyes still shut and body slick from sweat, and slammed his head into the coffee table by the couch. He was knocked uncontious by the blow. Rei quickly moved to his prone form, and checked him. He was still groggy, but spoke a few words. "Uh... Blood... why blood..."
'Blood? He is not injured. I must be covered in LCL still. I should shower before I see Ikari,' Rei thought. She covered the boy and propped his head onto a pillow, before she stript out of her Plugsuit and headed to the showers.
Michael awoke with a ringing headache, that he knew wasn't from alcohol. He also had a sick feeling in his gut, which he knew wasn't from alcohol either. He slowly stood, wondering how he had come to be on the floor, then realized it must have been a result of his dream. 'Damn...Me...' he thought. Slowly his memory came back. The scent of blood, and a brief glimpse of a blue haired girl. 'Who was she?' he wondered.
Meanwhile, far undergound, in a dark room, sat a monster. He had not always been a monster, but that is how he appeared to everyone now, even his own son. If people knew the truth... but only one did. His name was Kozu Fuyutski. Currently, Fuyutski sat in that dark room with that monster. The monster, named Gendo Ikari.
Gendo spoke first. "Fuyutski, we must do something! The scrolls did not predict this!"
Sub-Commander Fuyutski, an old man of 50 someodd years, sat and thought. "Well, you could always kill them, but why? They have talents. Plus, if these reports are accurate..."
"They are," Gendo said.
Fuyutski continued. "...then we will need them for-"
Gendo slammed his fist into his desk. "Damnit! Why must everything go wrong?"
Fuyutski was disturbed by Gendo's suddenly irrational behavior. "Why do you say that?"
Gendo leaned forward. "You've read the reports. You. Know. Why," he said, putting much emphasis into the final three words.
"Then just use them," Fuyutski said. "They have a stake in this too, you know"
Shinji Ikari awoke from his fitful slumber. He'd been dreaming about the Evangelions, and his role in this 'War' as Ryouji Kaji had explained it, so long ago. His body had been found shortly before the battle against the 15th angel, so deformed that they had to get a positive I.D. from his dental records aided with DNA. Kaji...why...
He stood, and dressed himself in his usual clothing. He slowly walked out to the hall. Asuka...she must still be sleeping... he thought as he saw her door. He passed it and headed for the kitchen. He entered, and his eyes widened. He quickly left. 'Misato must have been cooking...' He heard a shower turn on in the bathroom, and decided he must have been wrong about Asuka sleeping.
Michael stood slowly, making sure to favor his left leg. 'Damn legacies of warfare,' he thought as he looked around slowly. He saw Shinji backing out of the kitchen with a disturbed look on his face. "Shinji. Good Morning,"
"Huh?" Shinji said, looking around. "Sorry. Captain. Good morning. How are you?"
"Horrible. I had a bad dream, and I think I hit my head on the table," Michael looked around again. "Hey Shinji, is there a blue-haired girl that lives here? Cos sh-"
Michael was rather rudely interupted by a cry from the kitchen. "COFFIE!" was the cry, and it came from Master-Sergeant Sean Taylor. He came running madly from the kitchen with a small trashcan pulled over his head. He screamed coffie some more, ran around the room, and slammed into the door to the back patio. Having knocked himself uncontious, he slid to his knees, his upper body resting against the tough glass. Outside, Pen-Pen had been enjoying the sunrise. Having been so disturbed, he opened the door, which allowed the completely drunk MechWarrior to fall halfway outside, and warked his displeasure. He then left for his refrigerator.
"Was that..." Mike began. Shinji merely nodded. "Thought so. Never seen one before. Read about 'em, but never seen one. Sorry about Sean, he gets... wierd when he's drunk,"
Shinji hadn't been listening to Mike. He instead had noticed a torn, dirtied, and discarded plugsuit lain over the couch. It was Rei's style. 'Rei...' he thought.
Mike wondered at the boy's behavior, before he continued on his journey to the kitchen, and stopped after only 5 steps. "Shinji, that's her," he said, pointing down that hall.
Shinji looked in that direction, and saw her. Rei Ayanami, dressed in only a towel, obviously fresh from the shower. She had noticed the two a good 10 seconds earlier, and began to walk towards them. "Ikari..." she said. She walked several steps closer, losing her towl to gravity as she did so, and hugged him.
Shinji was stunned."Go on," Michael urged. "Hug her back!"
Instead, Shinji broke away, tears in his eyes. "How dare you!" he yelled.
Rei blinked. "Have I done something wrong?"
"You know perfectly well how close Rei and I were. The REAL Rei. Now you come here, trying to make me think YOU are the real Rei? Burn in Hell!"
Rei was aghast, and Michael thought he saw a few tears forming in her eyes. So, being an Officer and sometimes-Gentleman, he stepped in. "Allright. Calm down! First, Rei-person. You stay there, lemme get sommat. Shinji, you sit down, and for God's sake, calm down!" With that, he dashed to his duffel, and grabbed a spare jumpsuit. He returned, and handed it to Rei. "Here, this should fit. Might be a bit big, deffinately going to be baggy, but it's better than au natural,"
"Thank you," Rei said softly as she put it on.
"Now, what the hell is going on here?" Mike asked calmly, but with an edge to his voice.
"Today, Rei died," Shinji said.
"Huh?" Mike said. "Died? But she's standing right there,"
"I can explain," Rei said, calmly. "I did not die, Shinji. I lived, because the 16th became a part of me somehow. It protected me, and then, it died. I do not know how, nor do I know why,"
"And her EVA detonation was what brought us here. It's not as far-fetched as it seems," Mike commented, scratching at new stubble on his chin. Damn, needa shave, he thought.
"Then..who..." Shinji stammered.
"Comm-Gendo Ikari has made a clone of me. I do not know how or why. It must be her you met,"
"Well, this is all interesting, but can we talk over some food? I'm hungry enough to out-eat Johnathan!" Mike said as he led the two to the kitchen.
Ok, this was a redux of the original chapter. I fixed it up somewhat from how it originally was. I'll get a new chapter up before this time next week. Sorry about the delay, but school played merry Hell with the past months.
A/N: Getting interested? Good. See? Rei not dead, Rei alive and stuff. And I know Asuka is a bit OOC there. That's the idea. But don't worry, she'll be the firey red-head we all know and love or for a few;hate, soon enough. Or maybe she'll end up in a coma. I know, but you don't. You'll find out.
Next Chapter: Breakfast at Misato's, and finally, the answer to a question: Where are the Smoke Jaguars, and are they still going to be enemies with the Eridani Light Horse in this time? Tune into this ComStar frequency again, sometime next... century!